Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) and the entire Senate Democratic Caucus today released a letter calling on Congressional leaders to prioritize the extension of funding for community health centers. Without Congressional action, funding for health centers is set to run out on March 31st.

In Connecticut, 17 health center organizations serve over 375,000 people in more than 100 locations, from Torrington to Norwich, from Greenwich to Putnam, and everywhere in between. Over $56 million in federal funds are provided to health centers to support their work in providing high-quality primary medical, dental and behavioral health care to some of the state’s neediest people. Collectively, the centers employ about 3,000 people, making them not just a critical component of the safety net, but also a lynchpin of Connecticut’s economy.

“[This is] not just a humanitarian disaster, it’s a fiscal one as well,” wrote Senator Duff and his Senate Democratic colleagues. “If patients don’t have access to primary care in their communities, they turn to hospital emergency rooms for routine care, or defer needed care until their health problems are more serious and more costly.”

“We are asking you to fight for extended funding for health centers on a multi-year basis, with at least the current levels of funding, so that Connecticut residents continue to have access to high-quality primary medical, dental and behavioral health care,” continued Senator Duff and his Senate Democratic colleagues.

Over the last several years in Connecticut, health centers have expanded to more cities and towns, added needed treatment for the opioid crisis, expanded specialty services, and served an additional 40,000 people.

In 2015, Congress authorized a funding extension for health centers on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.